Nothing Like the Song
by Secretmuch
Summary: A songfic oneshot to One Of Us by ABBA. T for insinuation, homoerotism and heteroerotism. China/Skulduggery Valkyrie/Melancholia.


**Nothing Like The Song  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>AN: Hi there! This is my first Skulduggery Pleasant songfic. Hope you like it!_

_It's set in a place and time after these lot have just saved the world. Again._

_The song is One Of Us by ABBA.  
><em>

* * *

><p>They stood side by side for the first time. Wind whipped in their face. The four were silent. Their battle was done, but they didn't trust anything yet. China Sorrows gave a light sigh.<p>

"So. It's finally over." Sorrows whispered. The beautiful lady's words triggered a total collapse in the party. They fell to their knees and sat or lay where they had stood.

"Tired." Cain mumbled. "I no longer know the meaning of the word 'untired." She hurried to block her partner's advance. "I know. 'Untired' is not a word."

"We're done?" Melancholia said incredulously. "That's... it?"

Skulduggery seemed to smile. "It indeed, my dear Death Bringer."

"Not your dear anything." The words were tired.

They were silent for a while.

China rolled over from where she had been reclining and rose once more. Her lips opened, and music poured forth. "_They passed me by, all of those great romances_." The words were sad and hollow.

"_You were, I felt, robbing me of my rightful chances_." She was staring directly at Skulduggery.

"China?" They had never heard her sing before.

Her voice rose and soared above the trees, startling a flock of birds into flight. "_My picture clear, everything seemed so easy_."

"_And so I dealt you the blow_." China's mouth tightened, and she looked away from Skulduggery as he looked away from her.

The words came harsher now, and Valkyrie had a distinct feeling of deja vu. "_One of us had to go_."

Skulduggery rose and they looked back at each other."_Now it's different, I want you to know_..." Her voice trailed off. She ran to him with hurried footsteps and hugged him. His hands flew to her face and lifted it. Skeleton jaws met full, warm lips.

"_One of us is crying_." Melancholia sang out. Indeed, there were tears streaming down her face.

"_One of us is lying_," China Sorrows began.

Wind whistled and hair wrapped around her face. "_In her lonely bed_,"

"_Staring at the ceiling_," The words didn't fit anymore. Once they would've, but now?

"_Wishing she was somewhere else instead_." the company sang together.

"_One of us is lonely_." Pleasant said in a low baritone.

Valkyrie Cain began. "_One of us is only_,"

"_Waiting for a call_..." Tune wrapped around words.

Her eyes tightened. "_Sorry for herself_,"

"_Feeling stupid, feeling small_," the four sung.

"_Wishing she had never left at all_!" Her face shone with joy. The battle was done. The words of the old song no longer matched her feelings.

Melancholia St Clair stood. She knew she must sing the next bit, but she was in no hurry to do so. "_I saw myself as a concealed attraction_," The notes rang out clear and true.

She bared her teeth in a twisted smile and looked at Valkyrie. "_I felt you kept me away from the heat and the action_."

Melancholia sang, "_Just like a child, stubborn and misconceiving_," Cain returned the grin.

"_That's how I started the show_," the two girls sang together.

They walked together, trying to stare the other down."_One of us had to go_..."

Now Melancholia spoke alone. "_Now I've changed and I want you to know_..." Two sets of lovers kissed, there on the battle field of death.

St. Clair whispered, "_One of us is crying_,"

"_One of us is lying_," China began.

The music wrapped around the four. "_In her lonely bed_,"

Her voice rose and spun once more. "_Staring at the ceiling_,"

"_Wishing she was somewhere else instead_!" She smiled at Valkyrie sadly. She knew the younger girl had had some infatuation with Skulduggery in the past. The smile was returned, much brighter and stronger than before.

"_One of us is lonely_," Skulduggery murmured into China's ear, sending a shiver running down her back.

Cain sang softly, "_One of us is only_,"

"_Waiting for a call_..." The notes rolled off her tongue.

"_Sorry for herself, feeling stupid feeling small_." The words perfectly echoed her past feelings, and they were harsh and bitter.

Her voice was glad now. "_Wishing she had never left at all_."

The old melody intertwined around her words. "_Never left at all_..."

"_Staring at the ceiling_..." China started up.

"_Wishing she was somewhere else instead_." She did not. No way.

Pleasant said, "_One of us is lonely_," He was not. No way.

"_One of us is only_," It was Valkyrie Cain.

Her voice petered out. "_Waiting for a call_..."

The four had arrived as partial enemies. Now, as they left the field of death and peril, they left as lovers.


End file.
